ursa Latin · revision 33129

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=ine-pro *h₂rtḱo-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈʊr.sa], [ˈʊr.saː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈur.sa], [ˈur.sa]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ursa''' ''f'' (genitive ursae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|la|ursus|t=bear]], made feminine.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) De Vaan traces [[m|la|ursus]] to [[ine-pro|*h₂rtḱo-|t=bear]], cognate with [[grc|ἄρκτος|tr=árktos|t=bear; the Great Bear]], [[sa|ऋक्ष|tr=ṛ́kṣa|t=bear]] and [[sga|art|t=bear]]; since neither the ⟨u⟩ nor the ⟨rs⟩ is the expected outcome, he thinks some taboo distortion affected the word for the bear.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Virgil has Acestes rough with the skin of a Libyan bear, one of the uses where the sex of the animal does not matter.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means a she-bear, as often in Ovid and in Martial, and in poetry a bear in general.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) As a constellation ''Ursa'' is the Great Bear, more fully ''Ursa māior'', or the Lesser Bear, ''Ursa minor'', in Ovid, Valerius Flaccus and Suetonius.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil, of a bear's skin.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of she-bears and of the Great Bear.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A she-[[m|en|bear]]; in poetry, a bear in general.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(astronomy)'' The Great Bear, [[m|en|Ursa Major]]; also the Lesser Bear, [[m|en|Ursa Minor]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ursus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}